GovernmentCrime and Safety

Like most structures in the U.S. government, law enforcement
agencies are divided into federal, state, and local jurisdictions. At
every level these agencies maintain public order. Unlike many nations,
the United States has no national police force or national criminal
law. Instead each state, city, county, and sometimes township has its
own police units as well as its own laws that regulate police
activities and define criminal behavior. Under the Tenth Amendment,
law enforcement is primarily the responsibility of local governments,
as is the prosecution of the vast majority of crimes committed in the
United States.

Law Enforcement
Agencies - Local Agencies

In the 18th century, the
law enforcement system existed only informally at the local level.
Often an appointed justice of the peace served as judge and jury,
while an elected county sheriff or constable was the principal law
enforcement officer. However, as cities began to grow in the early and
mid-19th century, many workers began to migrate to these new urban
centers to find jobs. Workers came from other parts of the United
States as well as from abroad. Conflicts often arose between
native-born workers and immigrant workers because of competition for
jobs. Police forces began to be needed to keep order and protect
property. From their early beginnings in Boston in 1838, local police
units, in county or city, have developed into the most important
crime-fighting organizations in the United States.

At
first police functioned as little more than night watchmen. Gradually
they gained authority from their visibility and their uniforms, and
they soon became an accepted first line of defense for maintaining
order and safety. However, most local police were appointed by city
officials and poorly trained. As a result, police officers were
responsible for occasional episodes of brutality against citizens as
well as for a failure to deliver equal justice to minority groups. By
the 1920s, cities demanded more professional police forces that were
better trained and not appointed by politicians.

Since
that time, local forces have increased substantially both in size and
in professionalism. But city sizes and crime rates have also
increased, and local police are often hampered by a lack of funds and
facilities. Also, modern city life requires much more from local
police than detective work and crime fighting. Many of the functions
of today’s police have little to do with maintaining law and order,
and a great deal to do with investigating accidents and dealing with
the problems of incapacitated adults, missing children, and corner
drug sales.

Law Enforcement
Agencies - State and Federal Agencies

Besides local forces, each
of the 50 states has its own state police system. Developed in the
early 20th century, state police perform functions such as patrolling
state roads, investigating gambling, and seizing drugs transported on
interstate highways. State police also provide local police forces
with expert assistance and resources required to fight crime across
jurisdictions.

At the
federal level, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the
largest and best-known law enforcement agency. Established in 1908,
the FBI is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice. FBI agents
investigate federal crimes, including kidnapping, espionage, theft
involving interstate commerce, and terrorism. In addition to its
investigative duties, the FBI provides state and local law enforcement
agencies with facilities such as laboratories for analyzing
fingerprints and genetic evidence. The FBI also runs training programs
for local law enforcement personnel.

The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which was created in 2002,
oversees other federal law enforcement agencies such as the Secret
Service, which protects the president and vice president and their
families and investigates counterfeiting, and the Bureau of Border
Security, which prevents illegal immigration to the United States.
Other important federal law enforcement agencies include the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA), which combats the distribution and
use of illegal drugs, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,
and Explosives, which investigates violations of tax laws related to
alcohol and tobacco, enforces laws controlling firearms, and
investigates bombings. Another federal law enforcement agency, the
U.S. Marshals Service, preserves order in courtrooms, handles
subpoenas and court summonses, and transports federal prisoners.

Law Enforcement
Agencies - Other Agencies

One of the fastest-growing
parts of the law enforcement industry is private police, who are
employed by private security agencies. They play an increasingly
important role in providing security, especially in the workplace. In
the mid-1990s private police numbered more than 1.5 million, close to
three times the number of police in public enforcement agencies.

Increasing Federal
Involvement

The size of nearly all
police units has sharply increased since World War II because
communities have demanded larger police forces. By the 1970s over
500,000 men and women were employed in 40,000 public law enforcement
agencies. By the 1990s these figures had increased to nearly 750,000
people in 45,000 agencies. From the 1970s to the 1990s the combined
annual budget of law enforcement organizations more than doubled, not
including the cost of prisons. Some of this growth was spurred by
public fears, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, that crime was
becoming difficult to control.

As a
result of these fears, the federal government has become increasingly
involved in all levels of law enforcement. Congress and the president
have attempted to provide more support for state and local law
enforcement agencies. The federal government, state troopers, and
local police often share technology such as crime laboratories and
fingerprint records. In 1968 Congress passed the Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act, which established the Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration (LEAA). The LEAA provided federal grants to states to
hire more police officers, purchase equipment for crime control, and
improve coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement
agencies. The act also required the licensing of gun dealers,
prohibited the interstate shipment of pistols and revolvers to
individuals, and prohibited the sale of handguns to anyone under the
age of 21.

In 1994
the president and Congress again responded to citizen concerns with
the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which built on the
federal, state, and local alliance. Not only did this legislation
provide funds for local governments to hire more police, but for the
first time it also included money for programs specifically designed
to fight violence against women.

The
federal government has also become involved in defining and
standardizing what constitutes crime in the United States and the
rights of those accused of criminal activity. Since World War II the
Supreme Court has expanded the rights of suspected criminals to ensure
that the innocent are protected. Under the law, an individual has the
right to due process—that is, a fair trial and equal treatment. If
arrested, people have the right to be presumed innocent until proven
guilty, to have access to an attorney, to be fairly questioned by the
police, to be advised of their rights, and to be free from
unreasonable seizures of personal property.

Some
Americans believe that the need to protect individuals from injustice
sometimes conflicts with society’s need to enforce the law and
maintain social order. A Supreme Court case decided in 1984 addressed
such tensions. In its ruling in United States v. Leon,
the Court held that evidence obtained by a defective search warrant
(which had been thrown out by a lower court in order to protect the
defendant’s rights) was admissible. The Court ruled that because the
police had believed at the time of the incident that the search
warrant was legitimate and they were acting in good faith, the
evidence could be used against the defendant.

Current Trends and Issues

Over time, the types of
crimes that have been the focus of law enforcement have changed.
During the 1950s, Americans worried about organized crime, treason by
Communists, and vandalism by city gangs. Today they are more likely to
worry about domestic violence and drugs. Domestic violence—abuse that
occurs between married couples or individuals in other intimate
relationships—was previously considered a private matter. Similarly,
drug use was not as much of a concern in the past as it is today, when
many Americans consider the sale, possession, and use of illegal drugs
among the nation’s most serious problems. Annually, drug offenses rank
as the largest category of criminal activity. On every level, law
enforcement agencies are fighting a so-called war on drugs. This
effort is led at the executive level by a presidentially appointed
“drug czar,” the director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy. The director’s main task is to coordinate national
drug-fighting efforts and to draw attention to new developments, such
as rising use of heroin among teenagers or the efforts of the U.S.
government to control production of cocaine in Colombia.